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Catered towards petroleum geologist, engineers, geophysicists, and geoscientists this field trip is designed to provide an introduction to interpreting carbonate sedimentology, stratigraphy, and diagenesis. During this seminar, trip leaders and participants will work together to examine a wide variety of carbonate facies types, discuss various types of unconformities, relationships and interactions of evaporites, and many other related topics.

Join us June 1-6, 2014 in Las Negras, Spain to experience first-hand concepts and controls of carbonate reservoirs analogs. Space for this field seminar is limited, act now before spots fill and prices increase.
For more information: Field Seminar: Play Concepts and Controls

Objectives
The objectives of this field seminar are to provide educational opportunities on the following:

Depositional and diagenetic models for carbonates that are good analogs to highly productive reservoirs in the Middle East, including Cretaceous and Tertiary carbonates from the Gulf (Iran, Iraq, U.A.E., Qatar, Oman), carbonates from SE Asia, including Indonesia, and potentially to offshore plays from Brazil.

Lessons on carbonate systems that can be applied to carbonate reservoirs throughout the geologic record.

Additions to sequence stratigraphy concepts through development of substrate paleoslope and climate controls on depositional sequence characteristics; a sequence stratigraphy approach that involves the innovative “pinning point” technique.

Coverage of cool-water as well as warm-water carbonate facies models.

Controls of paleotopography on shallow-water and deep-water carbonate reservoir systems.

This field seminar is held in an area in which compressional, shear-zone and extensional tectonism created highly variable basement paleotopography and differing basin morphologies prior to Upper Miocene-Pliocene carbonate deposition. Superb 3-D exposures of Upper Miocene – Pliocene carbonates in SE Spain offer an unrivaled opportunity to learn from undisturbed depositional geometries. The area is a natural classroom for illustrating basic and advanced concepts of carbonate sequence stratigraphy, and evaluating the interaction of sea-level fluctuations, paleotopography, paleoclimate, and various diagenetic processes on reservoir character of a variety of carbonate systems. Outcrops in the region reveal evolution from heterozoan (temperate/cool water) carbonate systems to photozoan systems (coral reef-rimmed platforms) to an oolitic and microbialite (thrombolite, stromatolite) cyclic system.

The field seminar develops and evaluates the sequence stratigraphic framework and controls on location and reservoir character of Upper Miocene-Pliocene carbonate sequences from a variety of carbonate systems within the context of the regional paleogeography. Facies architecture of Upper Miocene carbonate complexes will be explored using sequence stratigraphy stacking patterns, controls of relative sea level, basement paleotopography, basin morphology, paleovalley systems, and climate. Diagenetic processes (including those related to karst and dolomitization) that affected the rocks are integrated to evaluate the controls on porosity distribution. Various forms of primary and secondary porosity exist in the outcrop. Particular emphasis is placed on applying principles from the field seminar and utilization of the excellent outcrops as analogs to a wide range of subsurface reservoir equivalents.